Welcome to fractures Guide
Knee Fractures Article
. For a permanent link to this article, or to bookmark it for further reading, click here.
You may also listen to this article by using the following controls.
Know What Compression Fractures Are and Best Ways to Prevent Them
from:Compression fractures are fractures that involve the vertebrae. They happen most often when the vertebrae in the spine collapses from their full height to half their height. The most common cause of compression fractures is osteoporosis followed by a fall. Patients with osteoporosis suffer from decreased and weakened bone mass, making them susceptible to compression fractures sometimes even without a fall or other trauma. Osteoporosis sufferers may experience compression from merely lifting or bending. Another cause of compression fractures is cancer in the spine, although this is rarer. Athletes may develop compression fractures if they are active gymnasts, weight lifters or doing other strenuous activities. Besides osteoporosis, the other most common cause of compression fractures are patients that are involved in traumatic accidents such as bad car accidents.
The symptoms of compression fractions may vary depending on the cause. Compression fractures caused by weak and thin bones such as in osteoporosis patients may not experience much pain at all, or possibly none. If the vertebrae have collapsed, the patient may have a hunched appearance and pain if the back muscles are required to do a lot of work. Sometimes, the pain disappears in a week or two, but other times, they need to seek medical attention for the pain.
Compression fractures caused by trauma may produce a severe pain that may spread to the legs. If the vertebrae are severely damaged where bone fragments are pressing on the spinal cord, paralysis may occur. Damage to the spine may become very serious, if not permanent with an injury such as this. You often hear about or see situations like this in bad automobile accidents or other accidents involving severe blows or trauma.
Treatment for compression fractures may vary, although in most cases, they say the best treatment is to prevent what causes the problem. The treatment method is usually to give relief for the pain and try to prevent the same type of injuries from happening again. In the case of patients with osteoporosis, the best treatment to prevent further problems is calcium, medications and exercise. If the compression is becoming a problem with severe pain, a method of treatment called vertebroplasy may be done. This procedure involves rebuilding the bone to its normal height and injecting cement to stabilize it as well as to prevent further damage. Patients with compression fractures will usually heal in 8 to 12 weeks, providing the injury was not from severe trauma, in which case, it may take longer. Patients with compression fractures are like to have them again, which is why doctors will stress preventative therapy and treatment.
Knee Fractures Specific links
Blinkx Video Search
- World's largest video search engine. Over 26 million hours of video. Watch it all!
-- http://www.blinkx.com/
Free Tech and Gadget Reviews!
- Watch GeekBrief With Cali Lewis on Mevio!
-- http://www.geekbrief.mevio.com/
Watch Funny Videos!
- Click here to see funny videos, pictures, jokes, commercials, and more funny stuff from Comedy.com.
-- http://www.comedy.com/
New Rap Music
- Search Emerging Artists & Help Vote Them Into Stardom. Join Today
-- http://www.ourstage.com/
Get Hired
- Earn more money with a better job now
-- http://www.hotjobs.com/
Knee Fractures News
Complications common after knee cartilage implant (Reuters via Yahoo! News)
More than one out of every six patients who have an implant of their own tissue to treat a knee cartilage defect will require repeat surgery, according to a new report on 309 patients treated with the procedure.
Read more...New Methods To Avoid Knee Replacements (Medical News Today)
Research published today in The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, British Volume summarises a number of recently developed techniques for patients that can avoid the need for knee replacements. Osteotomies around the knee had until the 1990's fallen out of favour with surgeons and knee replacement were performed instead, partly due to the complexities surrounding this treatment.
Read more...Image Quiz (Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery)
A fifty-three-year-old woman with a history of colitis, hypertension, and bipolar disorder presented to our hospital with a two-year history of bilateral knee pain. The pain was localized to both knees, was greater in the right knee than in the left, and did not radiate to the calves.
Read more...NFL Barometer: Week 14 (RotoWire via Yahoo! Sports)
Steven Jackson sure looks healthy and the St. Louis back can look forward to some juicy matchups.
Read more...4 Warriors make All-WAC team (Honolulu Advertiser)
Pick a metal, any metal. All would describe Hawai'i linebacker Solomon Elimimian. Gold? That would be a Warrior tenure that was punctuated with yesterday's selection as the WAC's Co-Defensive Player of the Year.
Read more...